This section introduces aspects that may help facilitate a better understanding of the invention. Accordingly, the statements of this section are to be read in this light and are not to be understood as admissions about what is prior art or what is not prior art.
In the field of electronics, different applications often require the use of different types of integrated circuits (ICs) having different operating characteristics. For example, handheld electronic devices typically require integrated circuits having a low standby power level in order to conserve the limited amount of battery power available, while computer servers typically require integrated circuits having a high speed in order to achieve required levels of processing and throughput.
In conventional IC technology, there is a trade-off between speed and power. Transistors having a relatively high speed typically have a relatively high standby power level, and transistors having a relatively low standby power level typically have a relatively low speed. As a result, ICs designed for low-power applications, such as for handheld devices, typically have a relatively low speed, and ICs designed for high-speed applications, such as servers, typically having a relatively high standby power level.
The standard approach to developing ICs for low-power applications and ICs for high-speed applications is to implement completely independent design, test, and qualification processes, one unique process for each different application. A family of multiple, different ICs may be developed for each different application, but the different families are developed separately from one another. Within an IC family, there is typically a lead IC and one or more follow-on ICs that differ from the lead IC in floorplan, size, and content, but use a common set of circuits and blocks. Some sharing of internal blocks, like PLL (phase-locked loop) or memory blocks or IO (input/output), between different IC families may be implemented, but the floorplan, top layout, verification, assembly, test, QA (quality assurance), and reliability for the different families follow from separate development efforts.